Why you should (or shouldn’t) root your Android device

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Android is based on the Linux kernel, so right from the start, tinkerers and power users were interested in gaining root access to make changes and graft on new features. In the early days, this was a fairly simple procedure on most devices. There were several apps and tools that could root almost any Android phone or tablet, and you’d be ready to truly master your device in mere minutes. As Android became more capable, the allure of rooting has diminished somewhat — it’s also much harder and riskier than it used to be.

So what are the advantages and risks of rooting these days, and why are some devices resistant to rooting? Let’s see if we can’t figure it out.

The advantages of rooting

Gaining root access on Android is akin to running Windows as an administrator. You have full access to the system directory and can make changes to the way the OS operates. As part of rooting, you install usage manager (SuperSU is the main one right now). These tools are basically the gatekeeper of root access on your phone. When an app requests root, you have to approve it using the root manager.

So what can you do with root specifically? Let’s say there’s a system app that you really don’t like seeing, but it can’t be disabled through the standard method. With root you can run an app like Titanium Backup to delete or permanently hide the app. Titanium can also be used to manually back up all the data for an app or game so you can restore it to another phone. Want to change the way your device’s CPU behaves or alter the system UI? Those also require root. Ad-blocking software on Android needs root access as well (it modifies the Android hosts file to block known ad servers).

Android has more built-in backup smarts than it once did, but having root access ensures you’ll never lose anything again. Not only can you restore “deleted” files, you can make full backups of your apps and system. That’s handy in case your tinkering breaks something, and you have to repair the OS.

The risks of rooting

Rooting your phone or tablet gives you complete control over the system, and that power can be misused if you’re not careful. Android is designed in such a way that it’s hard to break things with a limited user profile. A superuser, however, can really trash things by installing the wrong app or making changes to system files. The security model of Android is also compromised to a certain degree as root apps have much more access to your system. Malware on a rooted phone can access a lot of data. Again, you need to be careful what you install.

For this reason, Google does not officially support rooted devices. There’s even an API called SafetyNet that apps can call on to make sure a device has not been tampered with or compromised by hackers. A number of apps that handle sensitive data will do this check and refuse to run on rooted devices. One of the most prominent examples of this is Android Pay — it cannot even be opened on devices that fail the SafetyNet check. If losing access to high-security apps is a big deal, you might not want to mess around with rooting.

Root methods are sometimes messy and dangerous in their own right. You might brick your device simply trying to root it, and you’ve probably (technically) voided your warranty doing so. Depending on the company, you might still be able to get a device repaired if you damage it attempting a root, but that’s not a guarantee.

Starting in Android 5.0 Lollipop, system updates for some phones (like Nexus and Pixel devices) will only work on stock unrooted devices. This is because of a change to the way Android processes the OTA file. Updates now patch the entire system directory as a single blob, so any changes or extra files (i.e. root) will throw off the verification and the update will abort.

On other phones and tablets, virtually every OTA update you get will wipe out root and block the method from working again. If having root access is really important to you, you might be left waiting on older buggy software while you beg for a new root method or a modded OS update.

Why is rooting so much harder than it used to be?

If you’ve been using Android for a while, you’ve probably noticed gaining root access on most devices is much harder than it once was. There were exploits years back that could root almost any Android device in a few minutes, but that’s much less common now. The last essentially universal exploit was Towelroot in mid-2014, but Google patched that rather quickly.

The reason these exploits are patched so quickly now is that having active exploits on your system is actually a bad thing for most users. These are security holes that can be utilized by malware to take over a device remotely and steal data. Google and the device makers are being responsible when they shut down root methods after they are disclosed. After 2015’s Stagefright issues, there are monthly security patches for some devices like the Pixel and Nexus phones. Carriers and OEMs are also better about rolling out these monthly patches on a semi-monthly basis to patch flaws. Sometimes, that includes root exploits.

Android is more secure, and it takes more work to break that security in a way that can grant root access. As a result of this cat-and-mouse game, root exploits are often pretty involved. You might have to push files to your device over USB, enter terminal commands, and flash modified files.

The effort needed to find, test, and develop exploits of this nature is a big part of the reason some popular devices don’t even have public root methods. That’s not to say there aren’t exploits in these devices, but they’re far too valuable to be given away freely to the community. If you peruse XDA, you might come across one of the many root bounty threads where users pledge thousands of dollars to anyone who can offer a working root method for a phone. This works sometimes, but it’s notoriously hard to collect on these bounties and a few thousand dollars isn’t actually terribly much for a solid exploit.

Anyone who does security testing and research on Android will tell you there’s real demand for non-public exploits among security and forensics firms. A modder could make several times the theoretical value of a root bounty on XDA by selling an exploit to one of these companies. A universal exploit like we had back in the day could be worth tens of thousands easily. Most people just won’t give that away for a pittance.

So should you do it?

If you’re primarily interested in Android because you want to tinker, you should figure that in when you choose a phone. Don’t get something hoping that root method will be released, because you might be waiting a long time for a messy exploit that gets patched right away. There are some devices that are relatively friendly to rooting, like Nexus and Pixel devices. They have unlockable bootloaders and can be rooted without much trouble. They also have system images that can be used to restore the device in case something goes wrong.

If you’re not familiar with Android’s tools and how to fix issues with a command line, you might want to give this some thought. Root can be a lot of fun to play around with, but it can also lead to plenty of frustration as you try to fix errors caused by overzealous modding. The added issues with security lockouts via SafetyNet should also give you pause.

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I don’t think Rooting is harder than it used to be; in fact, I think it’s easier thanks to the ingenious community plus all of the easy-to-follow you tube videos, etc.. but I usually stock android Nexus devices. I rooted my Nexus 6 but then never found any ROM I liked better than stock android so haven’t done much with it. If I had a Galaxy S6 though… Root on.

RyanWhitwam

Rooting Nexus phones has always been about the same, though. Maybe slightly more annoying now because of how OTAs work. It’s everything else that’s harder.

Ryan Strait

Or you can just go all the way and install a custom ROM and recovery. Most of them incorporate updates within a week of Google releasing it, and some of the real slick ones are one touch updates. As far as rooting being a pain, that’s mostly up to the phone makers and service providers. Samsung adds in their own third party lock, but Android itself is quite open. Plus with all the one click tools, it’s pretty much plug and play for a lot of phones. I’ve rooted around a dozen, and by far the biggest inconveniences were my own stupid mistakes. Samsung’s improved their skin quite, but for awhile they were all but unusable without a custom ROM.

Benny X

HTC phones are enough of a hassle to root that i’ll never buy another one. I really think rooting should be a one-click thing. It shouldn’t take multiple steps to accomplish.

Hiro Tomodachi

It is a one-click thing now, including on HTC phones. Honestly though, with Motorola putting out high-powered phones with near stock Android OS and a low price tag (Moto G $179 and Moto X $399) there really is a good alternative for people who want to get rid of the bloat but not deal with rooting.

akash

my phone is htc 526g+, but whenever i am trying to root by using kingroot its automatically my phone is getting turned off and on………………..so please help me how to root…………plz mail me.my id is a4akash91@gmail.com

Maddoxxx

geez…not all phones can be rooted just by one click..
before you want to root your phone…
go learn step by step using ur pc to root the phone..

Adam Drago

I have a moto g. Could you tell me what the other option is, please?

John

The simple fact is they sell us the hardware at full price then tell us its not ours. They block root from the customers/owners so the manufacturers can control your device 100%. They shove whatever crapware they want or advertisements and you have no choice. Rooting allows you to do things that they will not allow or worse, wont bother to do. I finally rooted my tablet because they never bothered to support NTFS for the USB OTG. The nice wireless drive I bought, was NTFS. So to bad, we didn’t bother. But there are Root solutions to simply add it. Again closed environment at THEIR whim. If it doesn’t make them money off you, you DONT GET IT.

I never root my devices until I run into these issues, or the crapware is SO obnoxious. The new S6 is so loaded and customized by samsung its ridiculous. But I haven’t rooted it yet, though I bet it doesn’t support NTFS either. I pay that much to be told what I want and what I can do. They should add root as an option FOR the user. As long as the user approves it then it should be allowed, like the untrusted app flag. If you don’t pay you only get the short little warranty. When its done why not root if you don’t mind the risk? Oh ya, they can’t keep control after the warranty that way.

I am an embedded engineer with decades in linux and another 15 years in IT. I can damn well decide what I can run or not run on my device. If they want to give me a discount so they can close it then I should be paying less so they can try and drag more money out of me in there slimy other ways. But closed devices you pay full price for, with no alternatives, is the crappiest side of capitalism. ROOT gives you bakc what you paid for.

Kyle

Now that’s a rant I can agree with. If I buy a device, and I pay for the hardware, it’s mine. They have no rights to my hardware once they sell it to me. I can smash it with a hammer, root it, or whatever I please. The penalty is that the warranty is void, and I’m simply on my own. I’m okay with that.

The fact that OEMs can lock certain third-party apps and prevent them from being uninstalled after people pay hundreds for the device is sickening.

here here, linux seems the only realy free and open operating system, sadly games do not work, but if a person just reads email and browse the web how can you go past it, if the major games would be work on linux then there is no way I would be locked in

CKing Pro

Don’t forget another advantage of rooting: the ability to upgrade using ROMs. That’s the best part, as nearly all phones from OEMs are never upgraded, and I should’t have to buy Nexus phones just for upgrade.

RyanWhitwam

That’s not really a root thing. You can have a rooted phone that still has a locked bootloader.

TxRx100

Not-rooted Android is like a Windows without administrator access, unusable.
It is sad that the phones which can cost up to $1000 are all underutilized and do not even have administrator acces and when you get it you lose warranty.

Why is this:
-because Google is using walled garden model
-because Google is using that model where it doesn’t want to update the Android and forces the user to buy instead a new phone (forgot the word), that is why Google doesn’t want to make universal Android like Windows and Linux are

All in all Android is a dirty OS but it is also the most open OS for smartphone currently available.

Edit: My advice for fighting against these things, do not buy any Android apps and buy phones that cost around $100 like those Xiaomi phones…

TejasEric

You are entitled to your opinions but they sound very biased so I don’t think they count for much.

TxRx100

Biased how? If I would buy a phone it would have Anroid but only because it is the lesser of three evils. Everything I said is true, at first Android was open but then Google turned it into money making machine.
You do use apps on your PC that require administrator acces, don’t you? Like firewall.

TejasEric

It is biased because in your original statement you throw around your opinions on things and relay few facts. The one real fact you do state is a very broad fact about price. Plus you seem to ignore the fact that Google only fully controls Nexus devices and updates those for long periods of time and root is very easy to attain on a nexus device. I have a Nexus 6 so I have rooted my phone and it was just a matter of unlocking the bootloader which is easy.

The only real aspect of the openness that has changed is Google apps are no longer released open source like they used to be. The AOSP code is still released and Google fully lets people modify the code to release their own ROM’s.

How is Linux universal? Aren’t there many different groups that put out their own flavor with modifications to suit what they want?

Sorry but you still sound extremely biased to me and that shows through in the lesser of three evils statement.

TxRx100

Google does provide full support but only for Nexus line, what if I want something else?

AOSP lacks a lot of code and that is why totally open source Android is not possible. Drivers are missing to make open source Android and Google could pressure manufacturers to make open source drivers for Android.

Linux is universal in a way that you can put a distribution like Kubuntu on different computers with a different hardware and you do not need one distribution per every different PC (or in this case smartphone).

I do not consider myself biased just the fact that you cannot download a free app from Google Play without registration and god knows what is really disturbing, as are others.

For me it is easier to download pirated premium version of Android app than the free non-premium version.

Edit: And if I am biased against all parties I think that means that I am only critical.

TejasEric

If you want something else then that is your right, but in doing so you are putting your trust in that manufacturer and you can’t blame Google if it isn’t updated because they don’t control that.

AOSP lacks code that they cannot put in because it is not open source. Do you know that Google doesn’t or hasn’t put pressure on them or is that just a guess on your part?

No Linux isn’t universal. It is open source and anyone can modify it to their hearts content just like android.

You are welcome to not consider yourself biased but that doesn’t make it true. However not only are you biased but you are also a thief. Developers work hard and deserve the money if they put out an app that someone wants or needs enough to buy.

“For me it is easier to download pirated premium version of Android app than the free non-premium version”

So telling on so many different levels!

TxRx100

Google dictates how many apps from Google are installed on the phone and a lot of other things so they could also dictate a few things that actually benefit users like rooting and they could also release stock open-source universal Android like Linux or Windows, with universal I mean that you can install it on a different devices and you do not require that every install image (.iso for PCs and ROM for phones) depends on the exact hardware configuration (smartphones).

If developers work so hard to develop their apps why don’t they just make the free versions available for download from their websites for free (MEGA, Mediafire…) and not for exchange for the privacy that Google takes from the downloader when he downloads from Google Play.

“So telling on so many different levels!”
I tried to get free version but I could not so I took the alternative.

TejasEric

Any manufacturer can make an Android phone and not run Google Play Services on it and they wouldn’t have to install any Google Apps on it. Google doesn’t mandate all Android phones run Google Play Services.

No there would be legal problems for them releasing versions of Android for phones manufactured by other companies so they actually wouldn’t be legally able to do that.

Some developers do that. But since it is their property they have the right to do what they want.

If you are so worried about privacy get a prepaid flip phone that doesn’t have internet access and you won’t have any problems. Or you could continue to steal from developers who don’t want to give their property away like you’d like them to. Do you let people steal your property if they think it should be in the public domain to be used by all?

“For me it is easier to download pirated premium version of Android app than the free non-premium version.”

I’m sorry but your arguments are biased and I am not sure you can even see that things are not as you think they are.

Yes, in downloading from Google you give up a measure of privacy. If you don’t want to do that then it is your rights not to. But stealing an app because the developer doesn’t do things like you’d want them to is just wrong.

I can see how making a factual argument can come across that way. Seeing as I mentioned cellular corporations many times. Oh wait…

Benny X

the Google app store is there for convenience. For yours and for the developer’s. Do you really want developers to have to host sites for their apps and then have to keep track of all those sites just to get those apps? That’s ridiculous. If the Google store didn’t exist, every developer would have to host their own site with their own billing scheme. That would be a nightmare and way too much hassle to bother with.

Sure, there’s alternatives to the Google Play store. But they’re all inferior. That’s because the Play Store makes things easy. With that convenience, however, comes tradeoffs. It’s up to you if you think it’s worth it. Most people don’t seem to have a problem with it.

TxRx100

If it were there for the convenience it would not be required to subject yourself to such hardship and privacy violation just to download free app. It is there for Google to make money and to gain information about users and use the information to make money through ads and what not.

Benny X

Google’s not a charity, and everyone knows how it makes its money. The fact that the Play Store is the most popular app store (by far) seems to indicate that most people don’t have a problem with what Google does.

Hell, people probably share just as much (or more) personal details on Facebook and all the other crap social sites. That’s the way of the world these days.

TxRx100

Monopoly and lack of user knowledge can make the Play Store popular, no objection there.

I totally agree! I hate bloatware, pre-installed crap that occupies space and RAM on my phones, tablets, laptops. You need root to freeze, kill or delete the junk apps. Unfortunately the avg person can’t build your own top of the line smartphone like you can a desktop pc, and then select a carrier like choosing an ISP. That’s the problem!

TxRx100

And also you need rooted phone to delete bloatware apps or install ROM without bloatware.

Garu Derota

Samsung phones are great, but come with preloaded bloatware that wastes too much space. You can run out of space very quicky and keeping said apps is not what you want if this is the case.

I’m a bit surprised there hasn’t been found to be some sort of plug-in flash model for replacing the ROMs. It might have to be open the phone, find X cable, plug into this converter and that into some PC, then use software to flash the chip. etc. I mean it’s not overly difficult to flash phones, etc. but I’m surprised it hasn’t been a bit more standardized at this point, OR manufacturers haven’t gone the ‘dual bios’ route even and had a direct USB rootable option for the customizers. Imagine a phone with a removable battery, external memory, and all the flash of something like an S6 but with a quick and easy USB rooting feature. It would sell so fast… And a jumper or option to flash back to stock if you brick it. I don’t want the smallest possible phone, I want the best. I actually hate how small they’ve gotten, I can’t hold em.

RH

I stopped rooting when I got my last device, in mid 2014. I don’t screw around with flashing every time there is a new rom that shows up. If the stock rom is STABLE and runs what I want, has plenty of storage, then I just leave it alone.
My current phone, Huawei Mate2 doesn’t have a ton of bloat, just a couple Huawei apps, which I can live with. Non carrier direct from the manufacturer is the best way to go if they leve it mostly stock.

Maddoxxx

exactly the same reason with me as well…
my phone oneplus one came with cyanogen and i dont see any reason to root and unlocked the bootloader…
those days were over for me i guess…sgs2, nexus4, nexus5…
i do missed those custom roms…paranoid android, carbon rom but in this age,
even xiaomi redminote 2 doesnt have alot of bloatware and there’s only one reason left for me to root the phone….it’s because of stupid google lolipop,
we can’t move app to sd card…and cant move picture directly from phone to sdcard either…

Ivor O’Connor

All ExtremeTech phone reviews should include how to root the phone. After all this is “Extreme” Tech. Not consumerism for lemmings tech.

RyanWhitwam

We don’t do phone reviews.

Ivor O’Connor

hmmm. Too bad. Joel could probably rip the phone manufacturers a new one if reviews were done.

Why not? They are ‘Tech’ last I looked, and one of the most common to the consumer these days… ?!?

Lonnie Veal

When I got my first smartphone years ago– there were apps I never used on it, but if I didn’t activate them, they did Nothing. And if an App I never touched didn’t bother me, I wasn’t bothered by it. And because the apps never activated, I could go close to a week between chargings.

But when I got a newer phone two years ago…I ignored the extra apps only to find that the phone battery would go dead inside of a DAY! And that was with me never even touching the thing to make a call! That’s when a found out that all the Apps that I had previously ignored and Never touched were ALL ACTIVE. They were all Talking to their online Servers, Updating, Checking in, Reminding me that they were there, That Mark Zuckerberg NEEDED me to use Facebook. That the NFL WANTED me to use the Pro Football App.

And then I found out that I couldn’t turn them off. I couldn’t Un-install them. NOTHING.

Rooted my phone. Hunted down and SILENCED all the ‘Strategic Partner’ Apps…and now my phone can go several days without a charge.

For my next phone, I’m gonna pony up the dough and go with the One+. Hopefully, I won’t need to root it. But I will, If I have to.

N Herold

My Galaxy S6 has been rooted since the day I bought it & was the easiest root I’ve ever done–previously rooted a Droid X & a Galaxy S3. Verizon is so slow with updates I don’t think I’m going to have to worry about figuring how to update any time soon. I’m hoping that the security flaws discovered this week will have OTA updates done directly by Google.

Phobos

I think they should give you full admin rights, without the need to root.

jimv1983

That can cause security issues. For the advanced user that really knows what they are doing that is fine but many users don’t know what they are doing or the risks that are involved in it. Although, I think a great idea is to have it unrooted by default but have a setting under “Developer Options” to give root access. That way it’s good for the majority of users that don’t even know what root is and as easy as checking a box for those that do.

Another thing that would be nice is if manufacturers and insurance companies would still honor the warranties and insurance plans even if the phone is rooted. That’s really the biggest thing stopping me from rooting.

Phobos

That’s one option I would really like, the only thing that worries me about rooting is if I brick my phone. I only upgrade phones once every 3yrs or so.

J R Tur Pineda

I agree with you 100%. There should be an option to root the device or to run a command or app as su or sudo like in Linux.
I went to Cuba with my non-rooted Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and as soon I swap my SIM card for one of the country (I had no roaming), my phone stop recognizing any WiFi. I have to pay $25 to a guy to root my phone and install an app to allow my phone to connect to WiFi hotspots. Amazing!

jimv1983

I don’t root my phones because I don’t want to lose my warranty or insurance. I’ve seen someone screwed before, I’m not going to take that risk with a device that is so expensive.

Tim Richardson

I have an s6 and it was easy to root. Instructions are the same as older galaxy phones. The author has confused security-exploit root methods with the custom-bootloader method. Using an exploit is like jaulbreaking ios but android has a much easier approach.

well those are nice but not essential to me….even i can live without xposed..
i thought after the hammerhead age…it’s done for me…
i just missed those PA, carbonrom….
but hey more phones are closer to stock android…even xiaomi miui7 is a nice ui

James Mendoza

Just like my phone, Nokia XL…

It’s worth the risk of rooting than throwing this s#it out of garbage…

Kool

Why not produce rootable phones for those that desire it? I am sure there will be a demand. Of course, no guarantee.

honestly, if you have no intention of rooting your device, you may as well just get an iPhone. Or Windows Phone if you don’t care as much about apps.

Android lets you do anything you want to do. If that doesn’t interest you, then there’s really no compelling reason to go Android unless all you want is a cheap smartphone or a device with an OLED screen…

Jon_Irenicus

To me the number 1 reason to root a phone is to get around carrier restrictions on wifi tethering. Everything else is secondary.

gremlin22

Saying ‘I bought the HW. I am allowed to use it anyway I choose.’ is over simplification.

You bought HW+SW bundle which was certified to use cellular networks. Cellular networks want as little uncertified devices as possible to minimize the chance of crashing/exploiting the network and are allowed some level of control in that area. They also deserve some protection from the official bodies that regulate this area.

The automatic assumption that buying HW+SW at price X gives rights for each individual component is intuitive but not necessarily correct when intellectual properties are involved. The SW may hide lots of HW bugs and the manufacturer is allowed to protect itself to some degree from the bad press that accompanies the discovery of these bugs by rooted device.

I am an old enough guy who tinkered with SW for the last 20+ years starting with MSDOS himem.sys and I hate that the ‘freedoms’ I am used to are taken away. But the world is changing. We should encourage companies that offer devices with more freedom in them but we need to respect the fact that this is not an undeniable ‘birth right’.

Ivor O’Connor

I’ll make it simple. If you are reading this article then you should be rooting your phone. Actually if you are reading anything on ExtremeTech you should be rooting your phone!

J R Tur Pineda

Two thumbs up!

Ray Stanborough

I have an un-rooted android, and I have a virus monkeytest and timeservice that seem to go together, and impossible to remove, somehow this was inserted into the operating system and every time I reboot I receive a message saying android updating and its back, I do delete it every time. I have tried about a dozen anti-virus programs and non remove the problem, sure they suggest to delete the programs but they have hidden installers that can not be found. so root to you are can not root any more it does not make any difference that bad guys can F&^%K you at their pleasure and there is nothing you can do about it.

Monty Reed

Best part of rooting is getting rid of the bloatware, who wants that on a phone that was paid for out right in full. Plus you can install Viper4android, simply amazing the difference it makes for the audio can’t recommend it enough.

Svante Polki

Can you help me with build G925PVPU1AOE2 Galaxy S6? Can’t find the proper root package here and on sites like http://wyckedroot.com/ etc. Thank you!

Doug Gale

Remember that Google is an *advertising agency*. Where do people get this silly idea that Google stands for something noble. They stand for biasing their search results to make more click-through revenue. The Android OS is a sham, an ad popup program with a kernel underneath it and bloated, asinine Java application architecture. How many nuisance apps are running in the background on your phone right now? They are likely to be draining your battery and reporting your calls, address book, location, text messages (practically everything!) to malicious advertising data-miners.